Privacy Policy

Lineagen, Inc. WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY

OVERVIEW

Your privacy is important to Lineagen. We have developed this website privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) that covers how we collect, use, disclose, transfer and store your information. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our practices relating to privacy.

Lineagen is committed to protecting your privacy and developing technology that gives you a powerful and safe online experience. This Privacy Policy applies to the Lineagen websites including, but not limited to, www.lineagen.com, www.firststepdx.com, www.M-CHAT.org, and www.openingautism.com (collectively referred to herein as “Websites”) and governs data collection and usage. By using the Lineagen Websites, you consent to the data practices described in this Privacy Policy. Please remember that this Privacy Policy applies only to information collected by our own Websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of websites that are operated or owned by third parties.

Please read this Privacy Policy in its entirety to understand how Lineagen will handle the privacy of personal information that you provide through the Websites or through the use of the online Lineagen Web Portals. Unless otherwise specified, this Privacy Policy does not describe how Lineagen may handle your personal information in offline situations, which may be affected by additional privacy policies of Lineagen not inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.

Lineagen may use and disclose the information that you provide through the Websites or through the Web portals only for purposes permitted or required by law, for purposes described in this Privacy Policy, or for purposes which you might authorize. If you do not wish Lineagen to use or disclose information that you provide through the Websites as described in this Privacy Policy, you should disconnect from the Websites. Lineagen may change this Privacy Policy at any time and from time to time for any reason, including to address new functionality or changes to this Website or to the Lineagen Web portals, or to address new issues that require changes to this Privacy Policy. Registered users will be notified of any material changes to the Privacy Policy via e-mail.

Lineagen also has developed Terms of Use describing your responsibilities when using the Websites and/or the Lineagen Web portals. Please read the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use carefully. Lineagen may revise and update the Terms of Use at any time. Registered users will be notified of any material changes to the Terms of Use via e-mail.

HIPAA PRIVACY

This Website Privacy Policy is distinct from Lineagen’s HIPAA Compliance Policy, which is a special notice required by a federal privacy law known as “the HIPAA Privacy Rule.” The Lineagen HIPAA Compliance Policy describes how Lineagen uses “individually identifiable health information” collected by Lineagen, both online and offline, to provide services to you and to administer the various programs that Lineagen administers. Together, this Website Privacy Policy and the Lineagen HIPAA Compliance Policy describe how Lineagen uses your individually identifiable health information and personal information collected through Lineagen Websites.

This Website Privacy Policy distinguishes between personal information contained in a Personal Health Record (“PHR”) that you might choose to maintain through a Lineagen Web portal and personal information otherwise provided through the Websites. In general, a PHR is an electronic record of certain individually identifiable health information from multiple sources, such as doctors, and lab results that an individual controls and manages and chooses to share with others. Please review carefully all information provided relating to PHRs established through a Lineagen Web portal, as any maintenance by you of a PHR using the Lineagen Web portal is subject to this Website Privacy Policy

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

This Website Privacy Policy is distinct from the Lineagen Notice of Privacy Practices, which is a special notice that describes how Lineagen may use and disclose your protected health information (“PHI”) to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It also describes your rights to access and control your PHI. Information you provide to Lineagen in an offline setting is covered by the Lineagen HIPAA Compliance Policy and the Lineagen Notice of Privacy Practices, but is not covered by this Website Privacy Policy.

CHILDREN

Lineagen does not knowingly collect personal information provided from children under age 13 through any Lineagen web portal. If Lineagen learns that it has collected the personal information from a child under 13 through a Lineagen web portal, Lineagen will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible.

COLLECTION OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Lineagen collects personally identifiable information of registered users, such as your email address, name, home or work address or telephone number.

Lineagen also collects anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to you, such as your ZIP code, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites. When using the Lineagen Service, you are likely to access health-related information about you that is stored with Lineagen, and such information will then be available to Lineagen.

We may collect information about your interaction with the Websites. For example, we will use web site analytic tools on the Websites to retrieve information from your browser, including the site you came from, the search engine(s) and the keywords you used to find the Websites, the pages you view within the Websites, and your browser’s width and height. We will also use technologies, such as cookies and web beacons (both described below), to collect information about the pages you view, the links you click and other actions you take on the Websites. Additionally, we collect certain standard information that your browser sends to every web site you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and language, access times and referring web site addresses.

USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Lineagen collects and uses your personal information to operate the Lineagen websites and deliver the services you have requested. Lineagen also uses your personally identifiable information to inform you of other products or services available from Lineagen and its affiliates. Lineagen may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of potential new services that may be offered. Lineagen does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. Lineagen may share data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send you email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services to Lineagen, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.
Lineagen does not use or disclose sensitive personal information, such as race, religion, or political affiliations, without your explicit consent.

Lineagen Websites will disclose your personal information, without notice, only if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Lineagen or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Lineagen; and (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of Lineagen, or the public.

Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, personal information you provide on the Websites will not be shared outside of Lineagen and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates without your permission.

BECOMING A REGISTERED USER AND SUBSCRIPTION

In order to access certain areas on our Websites you must first complete certain steps to become either a registered user or a subscriber. During these steps, you may be required to provide us with information (including Personally Identifiable Information) such as name, zip code and email address. This information is used to help us understand who uses our Websites, to operate and improve our Websites, and to deliver the services or carry out the transactions you have requested. The only information that Lineagen maintains about you is information that you provide on our Websites, which you may access at any time. Lineagen does not maintain information for un-registered users.

USE OF COOKIES

The Lineagen website uses "cookies" to ensure the integrity of the registration process and to help you personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.
One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The cookie tells the Web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you personalize Lineagen pages, or register with a Lineagen Web site or services, a cookie helps Lineagen recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you return to the same Lineagen Web site, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the Lineagen features that you customized. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Lineagen services or Websites you visit.

USE OF WEB BEACONS

Lineagen web pages may contain electronic images known as web beacons–sometimes called single-pixel GIFs–that may be used to assist in delivering cookies on our sites and allow us to count users who have visited those pages and to deliver co-branded services. We may include web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or our newsletters in order to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon.
Lineagen may also employ web beacons from third parties in order to help us compile aggregated statistics and determine the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns. We prohibit web beacons on our sites from being used by third parties to collect or access your personal information.

SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Lineagen is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. Lineagen secures the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information is transmitted by Lineagen to other websites, it is protected through Lineagen’s use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

OUTSIDE CONTRACTORS

We may employ independent contractors, vendors and suppliers (collectively, "Outside Contractors") to provide specific services and products related to our Websites. These Outside Contractors may sometimes have limited access to information collected on our websites, including your Personally Identifiable Information, in the course of providing products or services to us. Access to your Personally Identifiable Information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary in order for the Outside Contractors to perform their limited function for us. We also require that these Outside Contractors (i) protect the privacy of your Personally Identifiable Information consistent with this Privacy Policy, and (ii) not use or disclose your Personally Identifiable Information for any purpose other than providing us with products or services for which we contracted.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Lineagen welcomes your comments regarding this Website Privacy Policy. If you believe that Lineagen has not adhered to this Statement, please contact Lineagen at security@lineagen.com. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly determine and remedy the problem.